


The Hunter and the Heart

by Astrogeekery



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Fairy Tale Elements, Kissing, Loneliness, M/M, Magic, Makes a good bedtime story, Romance, nature spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 15:06:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,669
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20584502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Astrogeekery/pseuds/Astrogeekery
Summary: There's something wrong with the forest. Gilbert intends to seek out what it is.





	The Hunter and the Heart

The Hunter tread through the underbrush of the forest, his crossbow slung across his back. For the third day, a forest usually singing with life seemed to be holding its breath, and their shelves were growing bare. _ Finding food _ was naturally an objective, but perhaps more important was finding _ where it had all gone. _ Even the trees, always so tall and proud, appeared stooped and yellowed by this sickness, and whatever was at the root of this, The Hunter had to be assured that it was not poisoning his and his brother’s water supply. 

Farther than ever before, he trekked into the forest—bravery sown by determination.

The trees grew taller and older as he went, their networks of branches so thick above his head they blocked the Sun. Yet, there were still no crickets to fill the false night. The Hunter climbed over and under arching tree roots, struggling onward despite aching feet that would bid him turn back. He had to know what ailed his home. 

Every forest had a Heart, he knew, and since he’d found nothing else to be the source of the sickness after such an extensive journey, The Hunter’s instinct told him there must be something the matter with the soul of the forest itself. 

Of course, The Hunter had never _ seen _ the Heart of his forest—or any other forest, for that matter—but, as a Hunter, he was skilled above all others at seeking and _ finding _ what needed to be found. 

That being said, The Hunter wasn’t entirely sure _ what _ it was he was looking for at all. 

And as the darkness around him became more complete—his boots lit only by the feeble white light of sorry, pulsing mushrooms—The Hunter began to question whether he’d already passed it by. After all, what Heart could survive here in the dark, all alone? 

The Hunter, a man by the name of Gilbert Beilschmidt, came to a halt at the base of the largest tree he’d ever laid eyes on. Even a man who could be quite proud of his stature—though perhaps no man was as _ proud _ as Gilbert—was made to feel very, very small next to it. It was reasonable to assume by its sheer mass alone that every other tree in the forest could have come from this one. 

The Hunter didn’t pay it much mind even as he craned his neck to trace the glow of the mushrooms spiraling up to its very top. Instead, he chose to rest his poor, aching feet and recline in the curve of one of its enormous roots. 

If _ he _ was a Heart of a forest, Gilbert thought, what would _ he _ look like? Would he be very fleshy, or perhaps more gooey? Would he have a distinct odor to ward off the pestering creatures of the night that severely handsome and talented Hunters could track in order to find it? 

Gilbert Beilschmidt was _ not _ afraid of the dark. In fact, Gilbert wouldn’t readily admit to being afraid of anything. However, when his peaceful thoughts were interrupted by a leafy _ rustle _ in the utter silence of the forest, he _ would_, maybe, if pressed, admit to sitting up fast enough he toppled from his perch.

Scrambling along the ground, Gilbert’s eyes strained to peer through the shadows. He followed the mushrooms along the ground, trying to see if they illuminated anything… and it was then he noticed something… peculiar. Not all of the mushrooms shone as brightly as others only a little ways away. If he squinted, they even seemed to have a pattern to them. There was a trail of them, glowing brighter to one direction. They were leading him somewhere. 

Gilbert picked himself up off the ground, dusting himself off in an incredibly dignified manner, and cautiously followed the little mushrooms and their steady, pulsing light as they pointed him toward a particularly dense snag of roots. He saw it now. There was something brighter in the midst of the roots that Gilbert _ just _ couldn’t make out. A larger source of light. Another mushroom? The Heart? He got down on his knees, forced to a crawl under the tangle of roots. He stretched out his hand, finding himself unable to pass any further—What _ was _ that—?

—His hand touched something warm and squishy and very much ALIVE. 

—Gilbert shrieked (a manly, not-embarrassing shriek, he would have you know) as he backpedaled as fast as his legs would take him—

—And the creature—no, the _ person—_shifted from their slumber. 

Then, the tree roots did something Gilbert was certain tree roots were not supposed to do: they started moving. They parted as easily as a curtain for the person—person?—who slowly rose from the ground, radiating a bright white light that flooded the whole area around the giant tree. 

They stood over Gilbert, who could only shield his eyes from the light that blinded him after so long in the dark. “PLEASE DON’T HURT ME,” the brave Hunter yelped. 

The being lurched, then, and Gilbert shrieked again, curling in on himself before remembering his weapon. The Hunter went for his crossbow, getting it in his hands, raising it in defense, and then… 

The light dimmed as the being stumbled, supporting themself against a smaller tree. Gilbert was able to take in their full form. He lowered the weapon. 

They looked… like a man. An extraordinarily beautiful man. He had the antlers of a buck, branching toward the treetops, sprouting from shaggy blond hair. Vines and saplings sporting maple leaves twined around his entire body, from toe to the tips of his horns. He was clothed in the forest and with a jolt it occurred to Gilbert maybe he _ was _ the forest… 

And the forest looked like he was going to faint. 

The Hunter returned his weapon to his back, uneasily getting to his feet and standing before the horned man with his hands raised. “Hey… Are you okay…?” he tried to ask. The… Well, the forest, Gilbert was presuming, peered at him with entrancing violet eyes. “Can you understand me?” The man nodded slowly in response, resolidifying Gilbert’s confidence. “Are you… Are you the Heart of the forest?” 

Another nod. 

“What… _ happened _ to you? What’s wrong?” The Heart of the forest didn’t answer him. Gilbert surged forward to steady the Heart as his knees buckled under him. He was shivering, though it was not cold. 

“They…” The Heart’s voice rasped, like wind passing through thousands of leaves. He coughed, and cleared his throat, “They forgot about me,” he whispered. “The plants, the animals, the people… They all forgot about me.” 

Gilbert held him up. “What does that _ mean_? Are you saying you and everything else in the forest is sick… because they don’t remember you? Are they supposed to? Have you tried talking to them? No one has ever told me about anything like you!” 

“They don’t know my name.” 

“Okay,” Gilbert said, “Then what’s your name? I’ll tell them. And then you’ll get better, right?” 

“My name is Matthew.” 

“Matthew! That’s a good name. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Matthew. So if I tell people about you, the animals will come back?” 

Matthew blinked up at him through long eyelashes, “The Heart… of any forest… belongs to the ones who care most about it,” Matthew smiled, then, fleeting, “I _ know _ you, Hunter. I’ve been waiting for the one who cares most for me. I wondered if you would find me.”

The Hunter found his face heating up as he held the Heart of his forest in his arms. “O-Of course I found you!” The words tumbled from his mouth of their own accord, “Every heart deserves… to be cared for.” Matthew smiled up at him now, glowing brighter, the fog of sickness clearing ever-so-slightly from those eyes. “I mean!” he amended, embarrassed by himself, by Matthew, by something, “I’ve always loved the forest,” he started off with, but was too quick to add, “_Because it’s my home_! I live here. I didn’t know the Heart was a person until a few minutes ago, and you’re a…. You’re a _ fair _ gentleman, sure, but it’d be kind of weird to want to kiss you, right? Because that’s not what you meant by caring about you. You just want people to know about you, right?” The Hunter then realized he had added too much. 

Matthew tilted his head, shaking loose a cascade of double-winged maple seeds that spiraled down from his horns. There was a new sort of glow in his eyes. “Do you want to kiss me, Hunter?” 

“Gilbert. You can call me Gilbert.” 

Matthew was close. That wasn’t his fault. He was unwell. But he was smiling, and his smile was sweet as maple syrup. “Gilbert,” he corrected himself, gentle. 

“Will a kiss help you get better, my Heart?” Gilbert asked him there in the dark.

“Not in and of itself,” Matthew was honest, though Gilbert would’ve almost wished he’d lied. With Gilbert’s support, Matthew got his feet under himself. “A heart needs to be known,” Matthew told him. “Cared for. That’s what can heal a heart. That’s what can heal me.” Matthew’s eyes flicked to Gilbert’s lips, and now it was the Hunter’s legs that felt like jelly. “Though… I don’t see why a kiss wouldn’t be a good place to start.” 

The Hunter, always in love with the Heart of the forest, dipped Matthew like a prince of castles far away having found his true love. Above them, the thick canopy parted to give way to golden sunlight. Matthew clung to his Hunter, who’d finally, _ finally _ found his Heart, and let him kiss the smile from his lips. 

“Can I take you home, my Heart?” Gilbert asked him, when they’d parted. “I can get you something to eat. I make a fantastic stew. It’ll get your strength back in no time.” 

Matthew laughed lightly, a beautiful sound, “I’d like that,” he decided. “I think I’m feeling better already.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Your thoughts, kudos, and comments are always more than welcome.


End file.
